]]>ISLAMABAD: Election officials claimed on Saturday that their calls for phased local government elections were reinforced by the smooth and trouble-free repolling conducted in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa a day earlier.

The Election Commission of Pakistan issued a statement expressing its satisfaction over the assistance extended by the provincial government, Pakistan Army/FC and police authorities during the re-polling exercise. Polls were held in 356 polling stations of 15 districts for local government elections in K-P.

An ECP official told The Express Tribune this would support their plea before the SC requesting permission to hold upcoming local elections in Punjab and Sindh in phases.

Already, the ECP has filed a petition before the apex court on this matter. The court is expected to take up the plea next week. Massive administrative lapses were reported in K-P when polling for LG polls was initially held on May 30. Re-polling was ordered in 356 polling stations after complaints of mismanagement. ECP officials claim that it was due to shortage of security personnel that the May 30 polls were tainted.

Election officials pointed out that they had advised the K-P government to hold the LG polls in phases but their suggestion was ignored.

Delayed for almost 10 years now, LG polls in Punjab and Sindh were scheduled to be held on September 20. Schedule for these polls should have been issued early this week.

However, both provinces have moved an application in the apex court seeking another delay on the pretext of a flood threat in many districts. The ECP petition for holding polls in phases and another plea by Punjab and Sindh to delay the electoral exercise are likely to be taken up together by the Supreme Court.

]]>ISLAMABAD: After observing the first round of Pakistan-facilitated Afghan peace process from the sidelines, the US is ready to play a more proactive role in the second rounds of tripartite talks among Islamabad, Kabul and the Taliban.

“Pakistan has played an important role in bringing the two sides to the table. We are happy to have accessed the first round as an observer. We will be happy to play the observer’s role or any other role we are asked in the next round,” US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan (SRAP) Daniel F Feldman said during his interaction with journalists at the US embassy on Wednesday.

Feldman has been serving as a special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan since 2009, first as deputy and then as the principal deputy to ambassadors Richard Holbrooke, Mac Grossman and James Dobbins before taking over as the special envoy. This was his last visit to the region as SRAP as he would be replaced by a new envoy in a few weeks.

In what is being considered a significant development, the first round of direct talks between Kabul and Taliban was held on July 8 in Murree with the next round likely on July 31 (tomorrow).

The top US diplomat on Af-Pak considers this a positive development and lauded the role played by Pakistan to facilitate these talks. He also appreciated Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s quest to bring peace to his war-torn country by reaching out to the Taliban.

Feldman also welcomed China’s desire to play a more active role in the Afghan peace process.

He said the US wanted the Taliban break their ties with al Qaeda, accept the Afghan constitution and respect women rights.

Mullah Omar’s death

When asked about the BBC’s report on Taliban chief Mullah Omar’s death, the US diplomat neither confirmed nor denied the news, saying the US authorities were in contact with Afghan government and “others in the region” to verify that.

]]>ISLAMABAD: In an apparent move to placate its critics, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday announced it would make long overdue administrative realignments – mostly cosmetic in nature – in the wake of the recent report of a judicial inquiry commission that pointed out flaws on the part of the top poll supervisory body in the last general elections.

Instead of going for some serious soul-searching and fix responsibility, the ECP sprang up a set of proposals envisaging specific jobs for its officers in the future. “The ECP will undergo an administrative reshuffle in which every officer will do a specific job rather than every officer performing every job. There is a need for specialisation in the commission,” ECP’s media wing said in its official statement issued after a meeting of the poll supervisory body.

ECP’s written response came a day after its spokesperson ruled out that any of the commission’s four members would resign as has been demanded by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan.

The judicial commission, which had been formed to investigate alleged systematic rigging in the 2013 elections, has given a clean chit to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) which came to power in the elections.

The commission, headed by Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk, also said the PTI could not come up with any cogent evidence in support of its allegation that the elections were systematically rigged through a design that could have converted PTI’s supposed majority into minority.

However, the commission pointed out many shortcomings on ECP’s part.

“Considering the weaknesses/shortcomings as pointed out in the final report of the inquiry commission on the general elections 2013 in respect of the ECP, a general outline of administrative response was presented before the Election Commission in a discussion on July 27, 2015. According to the aforementioned report following areas require positive action to avert and avoid recurrence of such deficiencies. These are: planning, training, coordination and monitoring,” the handout said.

The ECP claimed that it would undergo an administrative reshuffle but going into details of these decisions makes it clear that it is mere allocation of some new responsibilities to some of its officers. There is no mention of any punitive action or departmental inquiry against any of the officials who failed to perform their duties.

]]>ISLAMABAD: In an apparent move to placate its critics, Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday announced that it will begin long due administrative realignment in the wake of the inquiry commission’s report pointing out various flaws in the May 2013 general elections.

But instead of instituting an extensive, tangible exercise to investigate issues or announcing punitive action against those responsible for mistakes in elections, the commission has proposed that it would allocate tasks to it officers in the next general elections.

“ECP will undergo an administrative reshuffle in which every officer will do a specific job rather than every officer performing every job. There is a need of specialisation in the organisation,” the media wing of the ECP said in a press release following a meeting of the commission.

Further, it failed to address the issue of alleged low quality magnetic ink which was at the heart of controversy when votes were sent for verification through the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA).

The announcements come a day after an ECP spokesperson had ruled out resignation of any of their four members, as demanded by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan.

The inquiry commission formed to investigate alleged rigging in the May 2013 general elections, in its final report released last week, gave a clean chit to the incumbent Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on concerted and organised rigging.

The ECP, however, noted that “considering the weaknesses and shortcomings as pointed out in the final report of the inquiry commission on general elections 2013 in respect of the ECP, a general outline of required administrative response was presented before the Election Commission in a discussion on July 27, 2015.”

According to the report, the ECP noted four areas where it requires positive action to avert and avoid recurrence of such deficiencies. These include planning, training, coordination and monitoring.

Among the immediate measures outlined by the ECP, its Director General Elections Sher Afgan will start work as additional secretary –training, and prepare a foolproof training programme for the 2018 general elections.

Fida Muhammad will work as additional secretary — administration, and look after the affairs of budget, administration and elections wings.

The ECP further said that a planning committee will prepare a work plan for the next general elections in terms of human and financial resources, in addition to finalising electoral reforms and a logistic plan.

It said a national coordination committee will meet every month in Islamabad and four provincial headquarters regularly to keep the commission updated.

]]>3Angry rebuff to PTI: ECP says none of its members will resignhttp://tribune.com.pk/story/927673/angry-rebuff-to-pti-ecp-says-none-of-its-members-will-resign/
http://tribune.com.pk/story/927673/angry-rebuff-to-pti-ecp-says-none-of-its-members-will-resign/#commentsMon, 27 Jul 2015 23:21:11 +0000Irfan Ghaurihttp://tribune.com.pk/?p=927673Insists that the LG polls in Punjab and Sindh will be held under the incumbent commission

]]>ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) rebuffed on Monday Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan’s fresh demand that its members relinquish charge immediately, insisting that they would instead supervise the upcoming local bodies’ election in Punjab and Sindh.

“None of the four members of the commission will resign,” Iftikhar Raja, a spokesman for the ECP, told reporters. The local government (LG) elections in Punjab and Sindh will be held under the incumbent commission, he added.

Imran Khan in his formal reaction to the findings of the Judicial Commission that probed rigging claims in the 2013 general elections had demanded that members of the ECP should resign.

The three-member Judicial Commission, headed by Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk, in its final ruling validated the previous polls. It held that the PTI failed to produce cogent evidence that could prove that there was any systematic rigging in the last elections.

The spokesman termed the demand unfounded. The ECP comprises a chief election commissioner (CEC) – a retired judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and four members – retired judges of high courts, one from every province.

He said that the PTI can build public pressure on the members but it cannot remove any of them unless it adopts the procedure laid down in the Constitution.

The spokesman said that Sindh chief secretary has asked for a delay in conducting LG elections in the province and supported the demand that the polls be held in different phases. Punjab has already proposed the same.

According to a verdict given by the Supreme Court in March this year, LG polls in the two provinces should be held by September 20.

If the commission would have gone as per directions of the apex court, it should notify the schedule for elections by Tuesday (today). However, the ECP spokesperson said it is unlikely that the commission would announce the schedule today.

According to him, Sindh wants to hold the LG polls in phases, with the first phase starting in the first week of October and the entire process to be wrapped up by the end of November. Punjab has already floated a similar proposal.

]]>8Population boom: Pakistan will have over 100m voters by 2018http://tribune.com.pk/story/927019/population-boom-pakistan-will-have-over-100m-voters-by-2018/
http://tribune.com.pk/story/927019/population-boom-pakistan-will-have-over-100m-voters-by-2018/#commentsMon, 27 Jul 2015 01:35:38 +0000Irfan Ghaurihttp://tribune.com.pk/?p=927019Next election may be one of the biggest democratic exercises in the world

]]>ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will have around 100 million registered voters by 2018 when the next general elections are scheduled in the country in what may become one of the world’s biggest democratic exercises. The estimate is based on the rapid increase in population and the percentage of people getting registered as voters after obtaining their national identity cards at the age of 18.

Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world after China, India, the US, Indonesia and Brazil. Last year in India, some 550 million people had voted in what was the biggest democratic exercise on the planet. The voting concluded five weeks after the first ballots were cast.

There were 86.1 million registered voters in Pakistan when the country last voted on May 11, 2013, according to the statistics available with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) – the top polls supervisory body that conducts polls and updates the electoral rolls. Another 6.7 million new voters have been registered during the last two years, taking the tally to 92.84 million, though the nationwide voters list has yet to be revised and compiled.

These figures are based on the number of people who got their CNICs in the past two years till May 31 but do not include the voters excluded due to death, nationality surrender or whose CNICs have been cancelled for any reason.

Given the number of new voters making to the electoral rolls every year, it can be safely estimated that the registered voters’ count will cross 100 million by 2018, officials of the ECP told The Express Tribune.

While updating the electoral rolls in Punjab and Sindh for the upcoming local government elections in September this year, the ECP notified that 3.95 million new CNICs had been issued by NADRA (National Database and Registration Authority) in Punjab since the lists were last updated for the 2013 general elections. Around 136,530 CNICs were cancelled due to deaths or disqualified voters. Another 1.35 million new CNICs were issued in Sindh while 21,782 NICs were excluded from the electoral rolls.

Around 1.2 million new voters were registered in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa when it went for local government polls in May. New voters have been added with the same proportion in Balochistan and tribal areas.

“If you add up all the new additions to the electoral lists, the new tally would be around 93 million voters. If you go by the same rate, the number of voters in the country will [soon] cross the 100 million mark,” a top ECP official said.

He went on to add that the ECP had put on display the revised voters’ lists for Punjab and Sindh at centres across the provinces from July 21 till July 27. “This was done to make the voters’ lists authentic and remove any anomalies. The people could inspect the electoral rolls and make additions or deletions,” he added.

Voters can still apply for enrollment, deletion and corrections by submitting prescribed forms available at the ECP district offices. The voters’ lists will be frozen once the schedule for the local government polls is notified. Anyone can check their voting details by sending their CNIC numbers (without dash or space) to 8300 through SMS.

]]>2Local government elections: Punjab ‘smartly’ changes poll ruleshttp://tribune.com.pk/story/926563/local-government-elections-punjab-smartly-changes-poll-rules/
http://tribune.com.pk/story/926563/local-government-elections-punjab-smartly-changes-poll-rules/#commentsSun, 26 Jul 2015 00:55:32 +0000Irfan Ghaurihttp://tribune.com.pk/?p=926563Except on general seats, all other councillors will be elected indirectly

Political parties in Pakistan never shy away from playing with the system for their own benefits. This apparently seems to be the case in Punjab, where the government has changed the rules for the upcoming local government elections.

Through a recently promulgated ordinance, the provincial government has changed the law passed by its own assembly, creating enough room for the ruling party to manoeuvre the final outcome of the polls scheduled for September.

Enacted on the pretext of simplifying procedures and reducing expenditures, the ordinance has changed the nomenclature of elections to union councils. The long overdue elections will now be held in two phases: first direct elections where voters will elect members on general seats; and second where the elected councillors will elect members on all other seats i.e. youth, workers, minorities and females.

In the initial local government law passed two years back, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had wanted to hold the polls on a non-party basis. The move was, however, challenged in the court, which ordered the province to hold party-based polls.

Easier to manage?

The Punjab government modified the act accordingly. But once the issue was considered settled, changes were made in the law silently through an ordinance, apparently creating room for manoeuvring results.

“It is always easier to manage polls on fewer seats than going for direct elections on all the seats,” an official of the top electoral body reasoned when asked for the intent behind the latest changes.

According to the Punjab Local Government (Amendment) Ordinance 2015 promulgated earlier this week, a union council shall have a directly elected chairman and a vice-chairman as joint candidates, and six councillors on general seats – one each from a ward. These members can contest polls either on party tickets or as independent candidates.

This means the electorates will only vote for the panel of a chairman and one general councillor from their respective ward. Once elected, the general members will elect two female members, one worker, a youth and a non-Muslim member for their wards.

Election commission officials said the process would be easier and significantly reduce the cost of polls as fewer ballot papers would be printed. The ECP would print only two papers – one for the chairman and the deputy chairman seat; and the other for the seat of general councillor.

This means the political parties would only need to focus on getting one member elected in a ward. The voters, however, will have no say in the election of the rest of the councillors, officials added.

In the local government polls held in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in May, except for the seats reserved for women, members in all other categories were elected through direct polling. Each voter had seven ballot papers to vote for candidates.

Pakistan’s political history shows that ruling parties either shy away from holding local government elections or if they have to, they prefer non-party based polls. The members elected then usually join the ruling group for funds and other reasons.

More delays?

The Punjab and Sindh governments, along with the ECP, are set to move a petition seeking further delay in local government polls on account of monsoon rains and floods. Under the Supreme Court orders, the polling due since 2009 has to be held on September 20.

The provinces have told the polling authority that owing to floods, the governments will not be able to spare officials for election duties. The petition is likely to be submitted next week.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Thursday that the findings of the judicial commission into rigging and vote fraud allegations in the 2013 elections have vindicated the mandate of his party.

The remarks came in a televised address following the release of a 237-page report by the three-member commission that gave a clean chit to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

However, admitting some lapses of the poll supervisory authority, the prime minister said that “apart from the deficiencies-related to the election commission, the 2013 election, in general, was held in a just manner and according to the legal requirements.”

Without naming any group, the premier castigated the protesting parties whose supporters invaded the federal capital in August last year in a bid to dislodge his government through a prolonged sit-in that continued for 126 days. He also asked the same parties to shun the politics of confrontation once and for all.

PM Nawaz regretted that the unblemished general elections were made controversial that brought a bad name to the country internationally. “This is an unfortunate chapter of our history that cannot be easily forgotten.”

While he was asking all the political forces to join him in the nation building, at the same time he admonished his political opponents a number of times in his speech for creating political unrest in the country.

“We are hopeful that those who wasted the nation’s time will learn a lesion now,” the premier remarked in an evident reference to Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) which had been at the forefront of protests against the previous elections’ results.

He said his party and the world at large knew very well that the last election, that brought his party to power for the third time in the centre, was transparent, but it still presented itself for scrutiny for the satisfaction of those who had cast doubts.

“Not only the government volunteered itself for the probe but signed a covenant that it would quit and go for fresh polls if the commission held allegations valid.”

The historic verdict of the commission, the prime minister said, proves that issues are not resolved on streets through protest but in the constitutional assemblies.

In an apparent response to the shortcomings in the election process pointed out by the commission, he said reforming the electoral system had been part of his party’s manifesto.

PM Nawaz said that on his written request, speaker National Assembly formed a bipartisan panel to recommend fundamental reforms in the election system of the country.

According to him, the parliamentary committee on electoral reforms is working on the reforms package and all the political parties should give the panel their active input.

“Countries have to pay a heavy price if they suffer from uncertainty and political unrest,” he said, adding that Pakistan suffered the same throughout its 70 years of history.

“Had there been no interruptions in the democratic process, we would have been at par with developed nations by now.”

It is time, the premier said, to correct the wrongdoings of the past and discourage those who create such uncertainty.

“We do not have time for hollow slogans, emotional appeals and political gimmicks anymore and should be accountable for every minute of our national life,” he said. “We have to ignore the voices that want to lead us astray and should focus towards our bright future.” PM Nawaz said his government had put the country back on track and was striving for the progress of the country.

He listed improvements in the economy, ongoing operation against terrorists to substantiate his claim that Pakistan is way better than it was two years ago when his government took over the reins from the Pakistan Peoples Party in first-ever democratic transition of power in the country from one elected government to the other.

Election authorities have approached the Supreme Court seeking permission to hold local government polls in Punjab and Sindh in phases. The request comes after massive administrative mismanagement was witnessed during the LG elections in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in May this year.

Sources in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) told The Express Tribune that a petition has been filed in the apex court before the Eid holidays. It requested the top court allow the ECP to hold LG elections in phases. Under the Supreme Court orders, the ECP should hold the long-delayed LG polls in Punjab and Sindh on September 20.

“Keeping in view the terrible experience we had in K-P where the LG polls were held in the entire province the same day, we want to organise elections in Sindh and Punjab in phases,” an official of the ECP said.

Due to administrative issues, the K-P polls held after a gap of 11 years were a chaos, resulting in questions over credibility of the whole exercise. The ECP and K-P government are blaming each other over the outcome of the polls. The ECP claims it had advised the PTI-led provincial government to hold the LG polls in three stages. The provincial government did not agree to the proposal, saying the results of the first phase will serve as a trend-setter in subsequent phases.

Given the population size and expected number of contestants in these provinces, the LG polls will be a larger and more complicated exercise, ECP officials say. After a blame game between the two, the ECP had been advising governments of Punjab and Sindh to go for staggered election in their provinces.

In a recent meeting LG representatives along with the ECP decided to jointly move a petition before the SC to permit polls in phases.

“There were 147,000 officials on election duties in K-P. For Punjab and Sindh, you can well imagine how much administrative staff will be needed if polls are held the same day. The number of LG constituencies is significantly greater than the general elections for national and provincial assemblies,” the official said. The SC earlier this year had given a final deadline of September 20 for LG polls in Punjab and Sindh.

Elections in these two provinces are due since 2009 when the last local government system that Pervez Musharraf introduced in 2000, expired. After the restoration of democracy in 2008, provincial governments have been backing out from commitments to hold local government elections on one pretext or the other.

]]>ISLAMABAD: After massive administrative mismanagement witnessed during Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) local government elections in May this year, election authorities approached the apex court on Wednesday and proposed phase-wise polls in Punjab and Sindh.

Sources in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) told The Express Tribune that a petition was filed in the Supreme Court (SC) before the Eid holidays in this regard.

Earlier this year, the SC had given a final deadline of September 20 for conducting LG polls in Punjab and Sindh.

“Keeping in view the terrible experience we had in K-P, where LG polls were held in the entire province on same day, we want to organise elections in Sindh and Punjab in phases,” an official of the ECP said.

During the LG polls in K-P, which was held after a gap of 11 years, administrative mismanagement resulted in chaos, raising questions over the credibility of the entire exercise. The ECP and K-P government shifted blame on each other over the mismanagement of polls.

The poll body claimed that it had advised the PTI-led K-P government to hold LG polls in three stages. However, the provincial government did not agree with the proposal, saying the results of first phase will serve as trend in subsequent phases, the official added.

“Given the size of population and expected number of contestants in these two provinces (Punjab and Sindh), holding of LG polls will be a much bigger and even more complicated administrative exercise.”

In a recent meeting between the secretaries local government of both Punjab and Sindh and ECP officials, it was decided to jointly move a petition before the SC to seek phased polls.

“There were 147,000 officials on election duties in K-P. For Punjab and Sindh you can well imagine how much administrative staff will be needed if polls in the two provinces are held on the same day,” the ECP official said.

“Number of LG constituencies are a lot more than the general elections for national and provincial assemblies,” he added.

Elections in these two provinces are due since 2009 when the last local government system, introduced by former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf in 2000, expired.